Your first order of business?
How has Aigner changed since 1965? Growing up, it was the number one luxury brand in Germany. But when I joined six years ago, I asked myself, would I buy this product? The answer was no. It wasn’t desirable anymore. I brought in a new designer, Christian Beck. We had to change the product, to make young people want it again. Also, we increased production in Italy; today we are 50 percent made in Italy, which is a lot more than others. So what is Aigner today? What are the products people come for? Aigner is first and foremost a leather lifestyle brand even though we have other categories including apparel, watches, and jewellery. We are elegant, authentic, and luxurious, not mass or affordable luxury. Our bestseller is the exquisite Cybill bag; we do almost 50 percent of our turnover with it. Is that why you’re doing the One- OfOne Cybill bags for your 50th? Yes, Christian said let’s do 50 pieces for the anniversary. I said, only 50 for the whole world? And he said yes, we’ll make each one completelyp y unique, in crocodile and beautiful skins.s. It took us weeks to find the right skins, and thenen to dye and treat them. Each one has a custom-engraved plaque inside. Many accessory brands move into ready-to-wear when they want to be big fashion players. Will you be doing the same?me? When I started in fashion 15 years ago,o, accessories were completely on the sideline. Today, fashion is accessories. You don’t have to just do apparel; if you do high quality, relevant accessories, that is also fashion. At the end of the day, we are a leather brand and that will always be our focus. One- Of- One Cybill bag in crocodile and calfskin, Aigner